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Militia movements
7 Reviews
(4)
YA
Phaet (Dove Arising) is a Lunar fugitive after her daring escape to Earth with fellow Militia officer, Wes. Phaet's two worlds violently collide on the island colony of Saint Oda, and she returns to the Lunar bases determined to rescue her brother and stand as a champion for a new republic. A tepid romance distracts from the book's more exciting dystopian and sci-fi elements.
Reviewer: Breanna J. MCDaniel
(2)
YA
Charlie Law lives in Little Town, a place with a strict Regime and an antagonistic relationship with bordering Old Country. Nobody leaves Little Town, and nobody leaves Old Country--until one day the Duda family arrives as refugees. This dense, dark novel is lightened up at times with teen-boy asides. Conaghan's dystopia, with its contemporary-world parallels, is all too easy to envision today.
Reviewer: Sarah Hannah Gomez
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2016
(3)
YA
As the Second American Civil War escalates, Danny Wright (Divided We Fall; Burning Nation) finds himself in the middle of it. Danny and friends grow disillusioned with the war effort after the U.S. fractures into numerous independent countries and the threat of international nuclear action looms. Character growth is strong as the protagonists suffer through painful losses; action scenes propel the story forward.
Reviewer: Antonio Trujillo
(4)
YA
This unceasingly grim look at a future taken over by a murderous religious cult requires a strong reader with a taste for true dystopias. Aside from the dark content (even little brothers and cute stray dogs aren't safe), Hirsch occasionally threads his dialogue with far too much exposition. Still, Cal, searching for any semblance of peace, is a deeply compelling protagonist.
Reviewer: April Spisak
(2)
YA
A boy watches his mother being shot to death after they attempt to escape from a "patriot" group that had just discovered his father was an infiltrator from the FBI (a fact unknown to the boy). The core escape story and a persistent theme of identity keep the book from becoming a tract. A Cormier-like twist near the end probably wasn't entirely necessary but does give an extra edge of paranoia to the charged events.
Reviewer: Roger Sutton
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
July, 2000
(2)
YA
When his brother enlists in the local militia with its anti-Semitic beliefs, Ryan begins to challenge the political rhetoric he's heard all his life growing up on a ranch in Wyoming. This insidious conflict overshadows other aspects of Ryan's coming-of-age story, and its resolution comes well before the novel's end. But Ryan is an involving focus for both his own story and the larger social issues raised by the author.
Reviewer: Betty Carter
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2000
(4)
YA
When Chris's college-age brother escapes from a mental hospital, the seventeen-year-old, accompanied by two female friends, travels cross-country to find him. Cam is discovered living with a dangerous militia group. In this somewhat slow-paced story, Chris's flippant narration seems at odds with the serious issues of mental illness and militias.
Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta
7 reviews
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